Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 13-10-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 13-10-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Awards and Honors – American duo win Economics Nobel – U.S. economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson won the Nobel Economics Prize for work on commercial auctions, including for goods and services difficult to sell in traditional ways such as radio frequencies. The duo was honoured for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences noted that the discoveries by Mr. Milgrom, 72, and Mr. Wilson, 83, have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world. Mr. Wilson, a professor at Stanford in the U.S., was spotlighted for developing a theory for auctions with a common value, “a value which is uncertain beforehand but, in the end, is the same for everyone.”
2. Constitution and Law – Hathras victim’s family records statements in HC – The family members of the ninteen-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, who died days after she was brutally assaulted and allegedly raped, appeared before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday and recorded their statements. While a detailed written order was still awaited, lawyers for the victim and the Uttar Pradesh government said the court had listed the next hearing for November 2, when the State has been asked to file a response. A division bench of the court was hearing a PIL petition listed by it in the matter after taking suo motu cognisance of the incident and the events leading up to the hurried and alleged forced cremation of the victim. Uttar Pradesh Advocate General V. K. Shahi said the government had filed an affidavit in the court.
3. Defence – India, China discuss border disengagement – India and China held the seventh round of Corps Commander talks at Chushul on the Indian side to work out a schedule for disengagement and de-escalation along the disputed border in Eastern Ladakh. The talks were still on at the time of going to print. These are the first senior military-level talks following Beijing’s comments that it has “not recognised” the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. After the sixth round of talks on September 21, both sides, for the first time, issued a joint statement, in which they agreed to “stop sending more troops to the front line” and “refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground” but on Sept 29, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it “did not recognise” the UT of Ladakh and that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was “clear” and “that it is the LAC of November 7, 1959”.
4. Business World – 34 producers move HC to restrain TV channels – Four Bollywood industry associations and 34 leading producers have moved the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain Republic TV, Times Now and other social media platforms from publishing irresponsible and defamatory remarks against Bollywood as a whole. The suit has been filed in the wake of these channels using highly derogatory expressions for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, and “druggies”. The producers who moved the High Court include Dharma Productions, Aamir Khan Productions, Ad-Labs Films, Ajay Devgn Ffilms, Yash Raj Films, Salman Khan Films, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Reliance Big Entertainment, Rohit Shetty Picturez, Vinod Chopra Films, and Kabir Khan Films.
5. Economy – Govt. moves to spur demand – Hoping to spur fresh demand of about rupees one lakh crore in the second half of the year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday unveiled a mini-stimulus of sorts, comprising incentives for the government and public sector employees to spend more on consumer durables and services, and interest-free loans of ₹12,000 crore to the States for a 50-year tenure to finance capital expenditure. Ms. Sitharaman also enhanced the Centre’s own capital expenditure plans by ₹25,000 crore, from the earlier allocation of nearly four lakh crore, for spending on roads, urban development, water supply, defence infrastructure, and domestically-produced capital equipment for defence infrastructure.
6. India and its neighbourhood – Sri Lanka in talks to secure $500 mn in Chinese loans – On the heels of a top Chinese delegation’s visit to Sri Lanka, Colombo is negotiating a $500 million loan with Beijing as it gears up to repay a daunting $4.5 billion of its outstanding debt next year. The Chinese Embassy tweeted on Sunday that “a $500 million concessional loan” requested by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance to a “China financial institute” is under negotiation, but yet to be finalised. This is in addition to Beijing’s $90 million grant to Sri Lanka, announced days after a visit by a Chinese delegation led by Yang Jiechi, a top foreign policy official in the Beijing administration. If sanctioned, the loan will take Sri Lanka’s total borrowings from China over $1 billion, after the $500 million “urgent financial assistance” that Beijing extended in March to help Sri Lanka cope with the economic impact of the pandemic.
7. Economy – Factory output shrinks for sixth month – India’s industrial output fell for the sixth month in a row this August, even as consumer price inflation surged past the 7% mark, hitting 7.34% in September, with food price spikes reaching 10.68% compared with 9.05% in August. The index of industrial production (IIP) shrank 8% in August on a year-on-year basis, quick official estimates suggest, marking a marginally improvement compared with July when output contracted 10.8% as per revised estimates. Earlier quick estimates had pegged July’s contraction at 10.4%. August’s output does mark the lowest contraction since factory production began falling in March. Output had shrunk 18.7% in March, followed by contractions of 57.3% in April and 33.4% in May. Between April and August, industrial output has now shrunk 25%.
8. Constitution and Law – Andhra HC orders CBI to probe social media posts about judges – The Andhra Pradesh HC ordered a CBI inquiry into objectionable comments made about the court and its judges on social media by some individuals, including those in prominent positions. The bench observed that persons occupying high posts were waging war against the judicial system in AP. CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s principal advisor Ajeya Kallam held a press conference where he released the CM’s letter to CJI S A Bobde complaining about a senior SC judge and some HC judges. In the annexure, Jagan had alleged that the “august institution of the high court is being used to destabilise and topple the democratically elected government”.
9. Covid-19 Updates – Fresh cases at 63-day low, toll least in 77 days – India recorded its lowest Covid-19 cases in 63 days and the lowest casualties in 77 days as the dip from the peak levels seen in September continued. Monday’s (Oct 12) 53,082 infections are the lowest since August 10, when 51,296 cases were logged. The 696 deaths were the lowest since July 27’s 638. While experts have attributed the dip in Monday figures to fewer testing on Sundays, data from covid19.org showed that nearly a million tests (9,94,851) were conducted in India this Sunday (October 11).
10. Environment and Ecology – Rare butterflies, moths flit again in U’khand – A junior research fellow (JRF), Ambika Agnihotri, working with the Uttarakhand forest department spotted papilio alcmenor — a species of swallowtail butterfly, commonly known as the redbreast — in July this year in Mukteshwar area of Nainital district. The butterfly, which is generally found in the eastern-Himalayan region, was discovered in the western Himalayas for the first time after 110 years. At almost the same time, Arun Gour, resident of Devalsari near Mussoorie, spotted a day-flying moth — achelura bifasciata — in the Devalsari area. The moth, too, was spotted for the first time after 1893.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	-	Foreman, Senior Sci. Asst, Asst Professor	44	MBBS, Degree (Engg)	OCT-29-2020	https://upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/Advt-No-12-2020-Engl.pdf
2	-	Stenographer Grade C&D Exam 2020	-	12th Class with Typing	NOV-4-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/ssc-stenographer/761146/#Stenographer-2020
3	NALCO	GDMO, Specialist	16	MBBS, MD/ MS	NOV-2-2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/10/Notification-NALCO-GDMO-Specialist-Posts.pdf
4	IIT, Delhi	Sr Project Scientist, Project Asst, Project Attendant	6	BE/ B.Tech, M.Tech/ M.E/ M. Des	OCT-24-2020	http://ird.iitd.ac.in/sites/default/files/jobs/project/IITD-IRD-156-2020.pdf
5	NFSU	Assistant Pro, Research Associate & Lab. Asst	13	Degree, PG	OCT-28-2020	https://www.gfsu.edu.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Advertisement-Notification-NFSU-SOM-Contract-081020-01.pdf
6	CMET, Pune	RA, JRF/ Project Associate I/ Project Staff I	6	M.Sc/ ME/ M.Tech, Ph. D with NET	OCT-23-2020	http://cmet.gov.in/sites/default/files/jobs/PN-SP-085A-09102020.pdf
7	CPRI	Engineering Officer Gr.1	11	BE/ B.Tech	NOV-6-2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/10/Notification-CPRI-Engineering-Officer-Gr-I-Posts.pdf

 

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

1.1 Weekly Round-up – Constitution and Law

• Jamia Ulema I Hind vs UOI – CJI pulls up centre for filling shoddy affidavit in pleas seeking action for communal branding of Covid 19: ‘Extremly evasive, brazenly short of details’. CJI S. A. Bobde, Justices A. S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramaniun
• Amit Sahni vs UOI – “Public places cannot be occupied indefinitely” : Supreme Court on Shaheen Bagh protests. Justices S. K. Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari
• Satyama Dubey vs UOI – Hathras Case: SC asks UP govt.to file witness protection plan; seeks suggestions from parties for enlarging scope of Allahabad HC proceedings. CJI S. A. Bobde, Justices A. S. Bopanna  and V. Ramasubramaniun
• M. C. Mehta vs UOI – SC to consider whether a portion of minimum support price (MSP) can be withheld from farmers indulging in stubble burning. CJI S. A. Bobde, Justices A. S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramaniun
• Lavaynya Bhatt vs Consrotium of NLUs – SC allows CLAT 2020 aspirants to make representation before grievance redresssal committee within two days; committee to decide at the earliest. Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M. R. Shah.
• Karulal vs State of MP – Related witnesses’ testimony, if found truthful, can be the basis of conviction: SC. Justices N. V. Ramana, Surya Kant and Hrishikesh Roy
• Ms. “A” V. State of UP – Filing of the charg-sheet by itself, does not entitle an acused to copy of statement recorded u/s 164 CrPC: SC. Justices U. U. Lalit, Vineet Saran and S. Ravindra Jha.
• Nilay Gupta vs Chairman NEET PG Medical and Detal Admission/Counselling Board 2020 – Medical Admission – NRI quota not compulsory; private college have discretion to abolish it: SC. Justices L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat
• Rhea Chakraborty vs UOI – ‘She is not part of drug dealer’, Bombay HC says granting bail to Rhea Chakraborty in NDPS case. Justice Sarang V. Kotwal

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• 2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper

2.1 India leads the world in real-time transactions

 

FIS global’s report – 

• India has emerged as the global leader in real-time payments, handling 41 million transactions per day.
• The real-time activity has further improved in the country, with volumes jumping more than twice this year and the transaction value increasing 80 per cent.
• India saw growth of around 213 per cent in the number of real-time payments processed over the past year; Bahrain, Ghana, the Philippines, and Australia witnessed faster growth in the same period.
• Furthermore, in terms of the increase in the monetary value of real-time payment transactions, the Philippines, Bahrain, Australia, and Ghana saw twofold increase.
• China and South Korea, with more than 38 million and 12 million daily transactions per day, respectively, completed the top three in the Asia-Pacific region, along with India.
• The Immediate Payment System (IMPS), and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) have revolutionised real-time payment in India.
• Now UPI, in volume terms, is touching new highs every month and the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital payments hugely.

Important details –

• While the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been successful in democratising digital payments over the past few years, especially with the launch of UPI, the RBI has now invited private players to form a pan-Indian new umbrella entity (NUE) for retail payment systems.
• Many banks, including the country’s largest lender State Bank of India, are likely interested to bid for it.

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• 3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

3.1 Union Cabinet gives nod to ratification of Stockholm Convention, bans 7 hazardous chemicals

 

 Key points –  

• The Union Cabinet has approved ratification of the Stockholm Convention by banning seven hazardous chemicals that are harmful for health and environment.
• The seven banned chemicals are listed as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention.

Important details –

• The Cabinet has delegated its powers to ratify chemicals under the Stockholm Convention to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) in respect of POPs already regulated under the domestic regulations thereby streamlining the procedure.
• The Convention is a global treaty to safeguard human health and environment from POPs, which are identified chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate in living organisms, adversely affect human health/environment and have the property of long-range environmental transport (LRET).
• Exposure to POPs can lead to cancer, damage to central and peripheral nervous systems, diseases of immune system, reproductive disorders and child development.
• POPs are listed in various Annexes to the Stockholm Convention after thorough scientific research, deliberations and negotiations among member countries.
• India had ratified the Stockholm Convention on January 13, 2006, as per Article 25 (4), which enabled it to keep itself in a default “opt-out” position such that amendments in various Annexes of the convention cannot be enforced on it unless an instrument of ratification/acceptance/approval or accession is explicitly deposited with the UN depositary.
• Taking into consideration its commitment towards providing safe environment and addressing human health risks, the Ministry of Environment had notified the ‘Regulation of Persistent Organic Pollutants Rules’ on March 5, 2018, under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
• The regulation prohibited the manufacture, trade, use, import and export of chlordecone, hexabromobiphenyl, hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenylether (commercial octa-BDE), tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether (commercial penta-BDE), pentachlorobenzene, hexabromocyclododecane, and hexachlorobutadiene, which were already listed as POPs under the Stockholm Convention.

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• 4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

4.1 Russia tests new hypersonic Tsirkon missile

 

Highlights –

• Russia has successfully tested a new hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile in a move hailed by President Vladimir Putin as a “great event” for the country.
• The Tsirkon missile was fired from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea on Tuesday morning (October 6) in the Russian Arctic and successfully hit its target.
• This was the first time the missile had successfully struck a target at sea.
• The missile hit its target 450 kilometres away in the Barents Sea and hit a Mach 8 speed -- eight times the speed of sound.
• In the recent years, Russia has touted the development of futuristic new weapons which it hopes will give it the edge in any arms race with the United States at a time of growing tensions with the West.
• The defence ministry’s plan is to equip both warships and submarines with the Tsirkon.
• Russia boasts of developing a number of "invincible" weapons that surpass existing systems and include Sarmat intercontinental missiles and Burevestnik cruise missiles.
• The first Avangard hypersonic missiles were put into service in December 2019.
• Seven people were killed in an explosion at a missile test site in August 2019. Western experts have linked the blast to work on the Burevestnik.

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• 5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)

5.1 Not Available Today

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Weekly Round-up – Arts and Culture

• Shekhar Kapur appointed President of Film and Television Institute of India - Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur was appointed as the President of Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India, FTII Society and Chairman of Governing Council of FTII. Kapur is known for directing films like ‘Masoom’, ‘Mr. India’, ‘Bandit Queen’ and ‘Elizabeth’. Bandit Queen (1994) won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Kapur won Padma Shri in 2000.
• Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ debut book ‘Unfinished’ to release in January - Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ debut book ‘Unfinished’, will be launched on January 19, 2021, publisher Penguin Random House India announced on October 3, 2020.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Not Available Today

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)

8.1 Jan Andolan campaign on COVID-19 Appropriate Behavior

 

Key points –

• PM Modi has launched a campaign on Jan Andolan for COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour keeping in mind the upcoming festivals and winter season as well as the opening up of the economy.
• The aim of the campaign is to encourage people's participation and a Covid-19 pledge will be taken by everyone.
• It also tries to be a low-cost but high-intensity campaign with the key messages to 'wear mask, follow physical distancing, maintain hand hygiene'.

Highlights –

• Modi has urged the people to unite to fight Corona. He appealed to the people to always remember to wear a mask, wash hands, follow social distancing by maintaining 'Do Gaz Ki Doori'.
• A concerted and comprehencisve action plan will also be implemented by Central Government Ministries and Departments and State Governments and Union Territories with Region-specific targeted communication in high case-load districts.
• Appropriate dissemination of precautionary measures on all media platforms throughout the country will be put out.
• Special focus will be laid on simple and easily understandable messages, so that they can reach every citizen.
• It would also involve installing hoardings, wall paintings, electronic display boards in government premises, involvement of local and national influencers to drive home the message, and running mobile vans for regular awareness generation.
• President Ram Nath Kovind has also appealed to fellow citizens to unite in the fight against COVID-19. He urged wear a mask, wash hands and practice social distancing.
• Olympian Milkha Singh has also urged people to follow the social distancing and other norms to fight Covid 19.

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• 9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3)

9.1 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020

 

Highlights –

• French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A Doudna have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a method of genome editing likened to 'molecular scissors' that offer the promise of one day curing genetic diseases.
• Charpentier, who is French, and Doudna, an American, become the sixth and seventh women to win a Nobel Prize for chemistry, joining Marie Curie (1911) and, more recently, Frances Arnold (2018).
• They are the first women ever to be awarded the prize together.
• According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna discovered the CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors. Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision.
• This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may aid in curing inherited diseases.
• Also, using the CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors, it is now possible to change DNA over the course of a few weeks. This used to be time-consuming, difficult and sometimes impossible work.
• The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million krona (more than $1.1 million). The amount was increased recently to adjust for inflation.

What is CRISPR/Cas9 –

• The CRISPR/Cas9 system allows for adding, altering and deleting the genomic code in living beings.
• Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) are pieces of DNA that bacteria snip off from viruses that once attacked them.
• The CRISPR are a part of bacteria’s immunological systems that help them in recognising threatening viruses. When they sense a lurking virus, the bacteria produce customised RNA, which is necessary to translate DNA into protein, gleaned from the CRISPR libraries.
• It also contains Cas (CRISPR-associated) genes that are used to produce enzymes such as Cas-9.
• The enzymes — the Cas-9 being a particularly popular one — can be used to chop the DNA of the virus and destroy them.

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• 10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)

10.1 150 million people on the verge of extreme poverty by 2021

The World Bank report –

• By 2021, as many as 150 million people are likely to be in extreme poverty because of the coronavirus pandemic and countries will have to prepare for a “different economy” post-Covid by allowing capital, labour, skills and innovation to move into new businesses and sectors.
• The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to push an additional 88 million to 115 million people into extreme poverty this year, with the total rising to as many as 150 million by 2021, depending on the severity of the economic contraction.
• This would represent a regression to the rate of 9.2 per cent in 2017.
• Had the pandemic not convulsed the globe, the poverty rate would have been expected to drop to 7.9 per cent in 2020.
• A number of middle-income countries are likely to see significant numbers of people slip below the extreme poverty line. About 82 per cent of the total will be in middle-income countries.
• The convergence of the Covid-19 pandemic with the pressures of conflict and climate change is likely to put the goal of ending poverty by 2030 beyond reach without swift, significant and substantial policy action.
• By 2030, the global poverty rate could be about seven per cent.

World Bank’s views on India –

• Lack of recent data for India has severely hindered the ability to monitor global poverty.
• In Mumbai, city officials were successful in stopping the rapid spread of the coronavirus in Dharavi by mobilising community members and staff from private medical clinics for a strategy based on mass screening for fever and oxygen levels.
• By July 2020, reported cases in the area had been cut to 20 per cent of their peak in May.
• To servive the crisis during lockdown, foundations, non-governmental organisations and volunteers provided thousands of households with ration kits to poor families.

Other updates –

• The pandemic has infected over 35 million people and killed more than 1 million across the world.
• The US is the worst affected country with over 7.5 million cases and more than 2,10,000 deaths.
• The contagion has also battered the world economy with the International Monetary Fund saying that the global economy is bound to suffer a “severe recession”.

To download complete pdf visit here – https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/34496/9781464816024.pdf 

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• All Surplus, Exports & Imports indicators of India’s services trade increased in 2019-20.
• KALIA is the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation scheme for farmers of the Odisha government.
• PM Modi participated in the Hundred Years of Assocham in N. Delhi on Dec 2019.
• Haryana’s CM in Dec 2019 announced that 2020 would be observed as ‘Susashan Sankalp Varsh’.
• Regarding RBI, FSDC is Financial Stability Development Council.

10.3 Today's best editorials to read

• We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned. 

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

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